1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the vehicle seats, and more particularly to an electronically operated collapsible seat cushion, seat back and headrest for restraining kinematics to an occupant's body when the vehicle is involved in frontal, rear-end or lateral collision.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many patents in the prior art, which are drawn to a vehicle seat for absorbing different types of forces, shocks, and vibrations commonly encountered in vehicular collisions.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 35,572 issued on Jul. 29, 1997 to Lloyd et al. discloses a seat assembly for a motor vehicle that includes an air suspension system for isolating the occupant of the seat from shock, vibration and inertial forces directed along both vertical and horizontal axes. A base plate is mounted to the floor of the vehicle and supports first and second pairs of sleeve bearings on opposed sides of a box-like housing. The housing is attached to a pair of guide rods, which cooperate with the sleeve bearings to provide fore and aft movement of the housing. Springs operating in cooperation with a first horizontally disposed air bag serves to dampen out inertial forces to the vehicle seat. The seat itself is supported atop a vertically oriented air spring and a plurality of hydraulic vibration dampeners that tend to cushion vertically directed forces acting upon the seat and its occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,227,717 issued on Jan. 7, 1941 to Jones relates to structure for mounting a chair to the body of an airplane. The structure is designed to move the chair forwardly and upwardly in the event of collision, whereby the person occupying the chair will be tossed in a curved path and thus relieved substantially from shock caused by the collision forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,059 issued on Mar. 12, 1963 to Hastings et al. is drawn to a seat base having an inverted cone secured to the underside of the seat. The front legs of the seat are pivotally mounted to the floor of the vehicle. A single rear leg telescopes against the action of a spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,914 issued on Jun. 30, 1981 to Holweg et al., discloses an arresting device in a longitudinally adjustable guide rail assembly for motor vehicle seats. The device includes a shaft rotatably supported in a stationary bearing plate and driven by a stationary electromotor. The driving pinion of the electromotor is in mesh with an intermediate gear, which is supported for joint rotation on the shaft. A coupling disk is supported for joint rotation on the shaft and for axial displacement between the bearing plate and the face of an intermediate gear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,179, issued on Mar. 8, 1994 to Forget, discloses a fixed plate supporting a vehicle seat that is secured to longitudinal adjusting slides. The fixed plate supports a rotary intermediate plate via a first ball bearing and cover rigidly connected to the fixed plate and supported at the rotary intermediate plate via a second ball bearings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,204, issued on Sep. 6, 1994 to Liu, discloses a safe driver seat unit that includes a seat supported on two rails by four ball bearings mounted in the seat legs, and arrangement wherein an electromagnetic controller locks the seat in normal position. In a collision, sensors will turn on power to unlock the seat so that springs may move the seat backwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,372, issued on Feb. 25, 1997 to Al-Abdullateef, discloses an automotive safety seat that reduces g-loads imparted to an occupant during a collision by absorbing some of the energy of impact. Kinetic energy is converted to potential energy with the elevation of the seat and its occupant and the compression of springs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,591, issued on Apr. 28, 1998 to Tame, discloses a vehicle seat, which includes a seat cushion assembly and a hydraulic actuator. A first mounting assembly is constructed and arranged to mount the seat cushion assembly on a vehicle floor, and a second mounting assembly is provided which is contructed and arranged to mount a seat back cushion assembly on the seat cushion assembly.
German Patent No. 2,112,443, published Sep. 23, 1971, discloses a vehicle passenger safety system which has the seat belt anchorages and/or the seating rear anchorage points attached through energy absorbing components so that each passenger describes a predetermined path within the compartment with an increasing braking force until suitable padding brings the passenger to safe stop.
German Patent No. 2,060,951, published Jun. 22, 1972, discloses a car seat that is mounted on a spring-loaded support to absorb impact forces. The support is braced by either mechanical springs or hydraulic shock absorbers, and converts impact forces into a smooth recoil to protect the occupants in the event of a collision.
Great Britain Patent No. 2,087,226A, published May 26, 1982, discloses a shock absorbing seat that is formed by two connected portions. The shorter rear portion is a flat metal sheet bent upwardly at the back and riveted to the rear cross-member of a tubular support frame. The front portion includes a metal sheet which is “waisted” in plain view and curved upwardly from the rear in side elevation to a smoothly curved peak from which it is bent downwardly as a flat vertical panel. The panel is riveted along its lower edge to the front cross-member of the support frame.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to disclose a collapsible seat, which creates a zone restraining occupant movement independently of the vehicle in the event of an accident, as will subsequently be described and claimed in the instant application.